Melissa Huffman, agriculture extension agent with N.C. Cooperative Extension in Onslow County, said that the area’s cotton harvest is a little bit behind this year and hasn’t had as high a yield as in previous years.

Huffman said that many growers are seeing about 500 to 1,000 pounds per acre in Onslow County while in Alabama and Georgia, they’re seeing about 1,000 pounds per acre.

Typically, area growers also see about 1,000 pounds per acre, but this summer’s heavy rain left a lot of cotton bolls unopened in the field, Huffman said.

The heavy rain caused the soil to lose nutrients, she said.

“When they’re putting fertilizers out and it gets rained on, the plant will miss all those nutrients and that could be with any crop but that seemed to be a problem with our cotton this year,” she said.

Collins said that this year was his first year harvesting with his new John Deer 7760 Cotton Picker. The equipment, which Collins describes as “revolutionary,” eliminates two pickers, four tractors and four other pieces of equipment.

Collins got it two months ago, just in time for harvesting to begin on the 1,000 acres of cotton farm in Onslow and Jones counties in October. The harvest, he said, has been “very good.”

Collins said that he’s seen 1,000 pounds harvested per acre compared to the average of 750 pounds per acre. He credits his successful crop to the weather and timing.

“It was wet, but it produced a good cotton crop,” he said.

Collins said he typically finishes planting by May 15 and starts harvesting mid-October. He plans to be finished mid-December.

“Cotton has been very rewarding for Collins Farms the last few years,” he said.

Collins said they have planted cotton for about 10 years but the last three years have seen good crops.

This year, Collins said he is seeing between 80 and 90 cents per pound for his cotton while the average price is 77 centers per pound, according to Huffman.

“It’s not as good as it has been … but if we have a good crop, we can make it at 80-cents take home,” Collins said.

He said that the crop is insured so that — even in the case of a poor harvest — the farm still will receive a percentage of returns a good crop would have brought in.

“It makes you feel good when you’ve got a good crop, knowing you can pay the bills. Some years, it’s tight and you don’t know what you’ll do,” Collins said.

Once the cotton is harvested, it is transported to the Jones County Cotton Gin in Trenton and goes overseas to be made into material.

Thomas Waller, the gin’s manager, said that the gin will process more than 25,000 bales, weighing 500 pounds each, of cotton from October to December. He said that the gin receives cotton from growers in Onslow, Carteret, Jones, Lenoir, Duplin and Craven counties.

Once ginned, the cotton is put in bales that are sold to merchants who sell it to mills that make cotton products, Waller said.

The weather, Huffman said, is a key component of how harvests will go.

“They’re constantly having to find that balance with mother nature,” she said. “Nothing ever works just perfectly. As soon as you plan for one thing it tends to go the opposite way.”

Amanda Hickey is the government reporter at The Daily News. She can be reached at amanda.hickey@jdnews.com.